March for Our Lives protestors (courtesy flipboard.com)

“Saturday’s #MarchForOurLives was billed as a protest against gun violence,” cbsnews.com reports. “But for many Americans on the Right, it felt like they were under attack.” Which reminds me of a scene from the Joan Crawford biopic Mommie Dearest . . .

You picking up what I’m putting down? CBS, of all things, gets it . . .

“Corruption?” “Slaughter?” “Hunted prey?” This is the sort of language one would expect to hear directed at the Parkland attacker and other gun-wielding criminals.  These killers were rarely mentioned. Instead, the vitriol was directed at Republican lawmakers and the people who vote for them, people who “put guns ahead of our kids,” was the common refrain.  Or as one sign read “Our Blood, Your Hands.”

And then there was the NRA.

“NRA = Murder” signs were widespread at Saturday’s rally, along with “The NRA Supports Terrorists” and “[Expletive] the NRA.” At least one rally featured chants of “Hey, Hey, NRA—How many kids did you kill today?”

So how does it feel to spend a day being called a child murderer on national television?

For the answer to that question we turn to Network’s Howard Beale . . .

CBS reckons gun owners are, indeed, mad as hell at Saturday’s rally, “with its acid rhetoric and progressive overreach.” In fact, it “may have been the Left’s first setback of the year.”

“They have gotten the other side revved up,” says Jim Wallace of the Gun Owners Action League, a pro-gun-rights group in Massachusetts. “The NRA’s membership is increasing, ours is increasing. We’re seeing it first hand: people who would not normally get involved are very concerned about their civil rights.”

As Daily Caller reports, interest in NRA membership has spiked thanks to the March.

Google search results for “NRA membership”

Does that make the March for Our Lives wall-to-wall media lovefest a blessing in disguise? Did the antis shoot themselves in the foot?

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68 COMMENTS

  1. Yes, they are shooting themselves in the foot. They think that because the media is on their side, they are winning. They won’t realize how the media echo chamber is so slanted progressive. They don’t realize that the people they slander and rail against are more interested in voting than ever. What are they going to do, lower the voting age to 12?

    Journalists who donated politically did so 95% to Democrats. Even the journalists are too ignorant and blinded by their own propaganda to realize what an echo chamber they have created, and how much that echo chamber walls them off from reality.

    • My local paper was bought up by USA Today (another large liberal news outlet), and the news of the March was most of Section A today. Which is kind of funny since I live in a small town in Northern California that is mostly conservative. In fact a grand total of 12 people turned out for the in-town event here. Which makes USA Today tone deaf.

    • Time will tell. It appeared the mob scene was really a get out the vote rally for socialists. Banning guns was only the pretext for the gathering.

    • “They think that because the media is on their side, they are winning”.

      Precisely what happened to Hillary. Outcome should be same since the media continues to be hopelessly out of touch.

    • They are again misunderstanding the silent majority. They think that because they are shouting on social media that the whole country agrees with them. They are simply showing their true colors.

      • Larry…. But the little commies are having an effect on the spineless politicians who bow and betray their oaths to the constitution. Look at the spineless jerks including the governor in Florida. Now the rest of us will have to fight to the supreme court to try to get these unconstitutional laws overturned. The hell of it is, the constitution only means what the supreme court says it means. This is why they try to stack the court and all judges in the country. seems that the fact that the legislature makes the law and not the courts has been forgotten.

  2. When do we show up in DC to show that we support gun rights? NRA, SAF, GOA, state gun rights organizations, we need to show them what a real turn out is. No tide pod eaters allowed.

    • Unfortunately a march by gun owners would get about as much media coverage as the March for Life.

      It’s a weird state of affairs these days. Many pro-gun representatives who get elected on a certain platform see wall to wall media coverage of astro-turfed protesters and think public opinion has shifted away from the platform that elected them. I’m convinced that’s what happened in Florida, and that’s not the way things are supposed to work. The influence of the media can rarely be overstated.

      • Here’s the problem with a pro-gun-rights march. Well, two problems anyway:

        1) gun owners are responsible citizens who have jobs. They can’t just up and go to some march a thousand miles away.

        2) there’s no George Soros or Bloomberg paying gun owners to march. No billionaire out there supplying us with buses and color-coordinated t-shirts.

        But it’s a problem. Fence-sitters who see that pro-disarmament media coverage, and who don’t see a real response, may very well be influenced to the wrong side of the fence. And having Dana Loesch or Wayne LaPierre scream at you with scary music in the background may play to the base, but how many fence-sitters have they converted?

        • WHAT fence sitters. You actually thing anyone with an IQ above 10 fails to have an opinion on firearms, abortion, the Clintons. Not wanting to express it is not the same as not having an opinion

        • “WHAT fence sitters. You actually thing anyone with an IQ above 10 fails to have an opinion on firearms…”

          This depends on who you talk to about what (polling agency, questions asked etc) but while there are “pops” following a major event like a shooting or this march things generally break down into 3rds. 1/3rd are satisfied with current gun laws, 1/3rd want stricter gun laws and 1/3rd don’t know.

          So, in general on the topic of guns about 1/3rd of the public are “fence sitters”, historically speaking. The same is currently true of board members of major companies that are currently being besieged by anti-gunners, a group the NRA and other pro gun groups haven’t even tried to reach out to.

        • You are so right about point number 1. So many of us have to go to work to pay the taxes to keep the whole thing going.

        • There are fence sitters. Most people on this site probably know a few. The way to win the war is to take them to lunch and have a real discussion. This happened to me the other day. I was eating lunch with a few co-workers when one mentioned how all schools should get metal detectors. So we got to have a real logic based conversation (with several 18-25 year olds listening) and now a few more people (and one former gun control activist) are on our side of the fence. And they have friends who will hear their new opinions. That’s how we win.

    • We don’t march. As Andrew Wilkow said today on his radio show, the pro-2A crowd should designate a single day when everyone goes to their preferred gun store and purchases a firearm. Instead of spending money on a flight, hotel, meals, etc. to go to D.C., take that same money and buy a firearm with it. The message would be sent when the NICS system inevitably crashes. Wilkow suggested the day before the midterm elections.

      • I bought another AR15 this Saturday as a kind “fuck off” to all the March of our Lies protesters. The gun shop was busy and lots of young people there too. Made my heart feel good. I’m all for a national everyone buy a gun on the same day. That would be epic, albeit a tad difficult for me as I do a lot of transfers and the timing is hard. But I could transfer something in early and then “buy it” on the day of the protest.

      • I’d do that. I’d loan money to friends if they were short.

        I’m in California, and have put off buying any new guns since long arms require registration. But I participate if *someone* set up a national buy-a-gun day.

        • That’s a cool idea! I think I would be in for that too. That’s much more accessible than traveling to DC.

          We may have something like that here in Oregon either way soon due to the new ballot entry.

        • I can get behind that. My wife will understand the ‘sacrifice’ I am making for the Cause.

        • If you want to participate in Buy A Gun day, but spend less, you could stick with just the lower, spending potentially around $50-$80, though I don’t know the going price in stores, or many even have them. That would be a cheaper option though.
          I’ll keep watching for Buy A Gun day.

      • Let’s try some even more effective and less selfish! Organize a Take-a-Noob-Shooting Day! Bonus karma points if it was a noob who was at the anit-civil rights rally the other day!
        🤠

        • Took two newbies to the gun range a couple weekends ago and a gun show on Saturday past and they walked out with a new Ruger 9mm carbine and an AR15 MBR.

      • I’d say do it a bit sooner than that, so all those running know who they need to be paying attention to.
        And I’d definitely be up for doing my part in a national “buy a gun day”.

    • I think our own march would be an excellent idea. But we would have to go big or not go at all. In other words we would need to have a march that dwarfed their 200,000 (scientific measurement as reported by CBS). What we need to show is that we still have enthusiasm and intensity on our side. Don’t forget these guys could not ahve pulled this off without help from a bunch of fat cats and cheerleading from the man stream media. Almost everything we have done in the past however has been as the result of ordinary freedom loving men and women standing up for their rights! No doubt the media would want to ignore it but if it is big enough and we think it through we can make them sit up and cover it!

  3. It’s not progressive. It’s Progressive, which is really regressive, just like how Liberals are really illiberal (except in Australia where the Liberal Party is the one trying to restore people’s gun rights).

    • Signed in specifically to reply to this.

      If you think the Liberal Party of Australia is trying to restore our gun rights, you have not been paying attention. John Howard (Liberal Prime Minister) took all our guns, and whenever anyone suggests reducing a single ounce of his BS the Liberals jump up and down so hard the ground shakes. We have to look to minor parties if we want anything other than tighter gun control.

      The only exception to this is in the state of Tasmania. There the Liberal Party actually are reducing red tape, and they are being crucified for it.

  4. I am only 34 years old so I might be incorrect on this analysis but this guilty by association seems to have the same feeling as all Vietnam veterans are baby killers, that I have read about. Maybe one of the readers who was alive during this time could confirm or deny this.

    • The same communist liberal media MSM POS (D) shill progtards that brought you the term “baby killers” LOVE BABY KILLERS, and you can tell by their undying support of POS Planned Parenthood who chop kids up for $$$.

    • The Anti-Vietnam rhetoric was pretty much over when the draft was stopped. The lottery system picked those by birthday(the rich parents of young men did not like the idea that their darling son might have to go to war instead of college at 19), so the draft was ended. There were enough volunteers to supply a force there to train the young men who were native to the south.
      It was more anti draft than it was anti war. Sending our youth to fight in a war with hands tied is bad enough, but forcing a draft to do so was slavery and was wrong. This “police action” did nothing to defend the U.S. As a matter of fact, Nixon opening up China was worse on the country than any BS communist state in SE Asia.

  5. Well, I just heard that the Leftist’s ‘edge’ in the mid-terms is shaved to 5 points, from 15 points earlier.

    What the Leftists can’t control, whatsoever, is that every time people cash their paychecks, they will see real, tangible *proof* of who has their best interests at heart.

    And that reminder happens every time they cash that check.

    The mid-terms are on-track to be a bitter disappointment to the Leftists…

    • Yep, typical of the left, when they get their panties all in a knot they jump up and down and scream in incoherent rage, and say things that turn off the people they are trying to influence. The other thing going for us is that their people are notoriously difficult to to motivate enough to get to the polls, especially in off year elections; whereas gun owners pay attention, understand what is at stake, and make it a point to vote in nearly every election.

  6. The left shooting themselves in the foot is now a cliche and more transparent than ever since the 2016 Election, you can’t cheat truth. Kids and celebrities don’t easily influence the majority of American’s with true value. There will not be any honest discussions as the left believe only in one voice, the socialistic one.

    • You mean communism. And communism has only taken a #2 slot to muslim shit-ass extremists when it comes to U.S. National Security Policy – seek-and-destroy with all due haste and extreme prejudice.

        • Look, here words were stupid.

          I could care less if her jacket had a patch for anything on it, it was tone deaf, but her dad was Cuban and came here to run away from Castro, so I get it, still tone deaf in a world where visuals mean more than actual content, her content was shit, her visuals were also. If there was so much money floating around to help them out, they should have hired some PR folks to dress them, craft a more positive message.

          They’re against a lot of things, but if you want a message to appeal to people who really don’t generally care (not fence sitters), you need to do more than scream.

          And our side saying they’re Nazi’s, Commie’s, whatever, is just as bad. We need a positive alternative narrative. And I’m sorry, Wayne, Dana, are not doing a good job. Can we get Tom Selleck back, because Magnum rocked.

        • “Can we get Tom Selleck back, because Magnum rocked.”

          The last I heard, he was trying to get Higgins to sell Robin’s Nest in a reverse mortgage scheme. 😀

  7. I feel so sorry for these poor protester souls, their main motto is: ” I wanna give up all my guns, when armed criminals come to harm me in my home I will preach to them “the ideology” of giving up their guns, and if it doesn’t work I still have a prayer as my last option.”

  8. Good job, kids. Because of you I bought SAF and GOA memberships to go with the NRA lifetime membership I already had.

  9. “Hey, Hey NRA how many kids did you kill today”
    Sound familiar “Hey, Hey LBJ how many kids did you kill today” ?
    Lame copying your Grandparents
    Unimpressed with these kids. Please zip it🤐 and go do your homework!

    • Well the NRA and LBJ’s cooperation to ban gun ownership by minors certainly did kill a lot of kids…

    • Same old leftist cheerleading that they’ve done forever: “Hey Hey! Ho ho! Fill in blanks has got to go.” “What do we want! Communist tyranny! When do we want it? Now!”

      Look at this baby!

  10. Yeah it DOES echo Vietnam. I was around then and voted against Nixon. And protested along with others. Funny but I really wasn’t politically active until the last election some some 44 years later. I hope Trump doesn’t f##k us all…

  12. I do not understand why there is so many of these ‘protests’, especially when the main cause of the problem is the government. the federal level, for federal agencies not reporting incidents to ncis; the state level, I don’t know, I just figured to add them in even though I cannot think of a reason; and county level, there were numerous incidents that were red flags and ignored. there must be some thing wrong with the school systems that so many children fell they must protect themselves, and I am sure the reasons will never be mentioned. I guess bullies, and I am sure there were some at the march. it might help to arm them, (the bullies), pull them from their mother’s apron strings, and airlift them to some trouble spot area, (not to mention any). it could be called operation dumbo drop. if these sh!tters can do anything hooray, if not who cares…..

    • It is the same old story, as one sign put it: “If no one had guns, no one would need guns.” In other words, these idealists believe that without guns, there would be no “gun violence,” which is true enough, but in their idealistic fervor, they fail to comprehend that eliminating guns will not eliminate violence. If no one had guns, lots of people would still have knives, bows and arrows, swords, maces (baseball bats) etc etc etc. These people have no appreciation of human history, and the fact that as an essential animal, we are not that “highly evolved.” We are not Vulcans, but instead are ruled by our emotions, fears, hates, and passions. Fundamentally, genetically, we are a violent species.

  13. Politicizing everything has damaged or killed many causes. Conversations can be had about keeping people safe, keeping water and air clean, keeping people from starvation or homelessness. But now any conversation regarding anything at all is distilled to republican vs democrat. This march was 1% about the lives of children and 99% democrat voter registration drive.

    It doesn’t matter if there really is a solution to any issue because it’ll be written off by Democrats as Republican shenanigans and by republicans as democrat shenanigans. They all did it to themselves. Makes me feel bad for anyone who actually believes in anything.

  14. “NRA membership has spiked thanks to the March.”

    That’s not a good thing. An anti-rights, pro-gun control organization gained memberships.

    “Does that make the March for Our Lives wall-to-wall media lovefest a blessing in disguise? ”

    I thought you were done with the NRA quite a few articles back, RF. “If the NRA and pro-gun pols don’t shoot this idea down with extreme prejudice I’m done with them. You hear me? Done.” http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2018/03/robert-farago/federal-gun-violence-restraining-order-dangerous-gun-control-bill-history-united-states/

  15. I lived in the anti Vietnam days and the protest were most definately aginst the war not the draft. To be aganst the draft was a way to be against the war. I enlisted and served. I have no regrets. I still vividly remember being spit at and called baby killer
    To this day I still get disgusted by a “peace” sign. I am a PROUD Vietnam VET

    • Thank you for your service to our country. I am truly sorry about the terrible treatment you received after returning from Vietnam. A country should never treat those that served with such disrespect.

      Only one problem. Evidently you didn’t kill enough babies as we now have this new crop of anti-American, neo-Communist puppet, idiots.

      /sarc/ about the baby killing only.

  16. Of course they didn’t shoot themselves in the foot. Somebody else shot them in the foot, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

  17. My LGS has been so busy that I can’t stop by to BS with the owner and have a good cup of coffee.

    • That is a true shame. I don’t go to many “gun stores” anymore, but I always enjoyed the BSing.
      Since I order most of my guns, I deal with smaller FFLs for transfers. My current main guy blocks out 30 minute appointments – just to fill out the 4473. Since most of us have CPLs, no need call NICS, and transfer itself never takes more than 5 minutes or so. 30 minutes is still not long enough and I often find myself waiting for somebody else to finish chatting (and making others wait for me).
      On the bright side, this FFL doesn’t also run a surplus shop, so I don’t wind up paying an extra $300 for antiques/gear I didn’t know i absolutely must have. He just tries to get me to buy his silencers…

  18. So how does it feel to spend a day being called a child murderer on national television?
    Meh, same as being called a child murderer if you even mildly supported America during the Vietnam War.
    This is why I hate the little liberal leftist communists.

  21. This sounds backwards but I wish these anti gun loons would adopt Antifa tactics. We hear them preaching violence, I wish they would put their money where their mouth is. Only then could the squishy middle see them for the violent radicals they really are.

  22. When election day arrives, everyone go down to your local gun club with a cattle prod and jolt the Fudds and drive them like a herd of steer to the polls.

  23. They have a gun talk show on AM radio on Sundays here and the host was stating we need to take these marches seriously and we must not ignore them. He said we have to compromise with them because if not we will lose. When will people learn you cannot compromise with these people? I hope his listeners don’t take his advice.

    • I still think we should have a huge OFWG’s March on Washington.

      We can all jump up and down in unison to test the structural integrity of the Washington Monument.

  24. Regardless of whether the protesters are right or not, they seem to make sense to each other and my guess is we are seeing the perfection and weaponization of identity politics and social media for the purposes of shaping opinion, and for amplifying and wielding political power. It is how elections are won and lost.

    This may mean it is a matter of time before a crisis creates enough momentary political will to change firearm rights for the worse. The link is worth reading:

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/23/the-mind-benders-how-to-harvest-facebook-data-brainwash-voters-and-swing-elections/

    2A and the right to meaningful self defense depend on many people believing gun owners and gun rights are reasonable and desirable to have – and that turning the entire U.S. into a gun-free zone is bad idea that will invite more harm. Aligning gun rights with civil rights and human rights may be the high road to success.

    If firearms ownership and self-defense use is reframed in a citizen first-responder context, like knowing CPR, it might be very helpful. This would be an example of aligning gun rights with civic responsibility. Unfortunately the identity politics / social media train is not running on this program and there is no substantial counter I see apparent at this time. Urban centers are often highly non-republican and are likely proportionally more invested in online social media as a way of understanding self and culture. Urban centers can be very decisive in elections. Being “right” doesn’t change this; being relevant might.

    I see people who are afraid of guns and want only authorities to have them vs. people who would be willing and successful defenders provided they had meaningful tools for defense. Many who are afraid of guns are actually secretly afraid of other people who disagree with them. They cover their fear with imagined security that does not require they recognize their vulnerability. They like and feel safe controlling the “wrong” people who don’t agree and it appears they are setting about to accomplish just that.

    The best tool I have found for understanding this perspective is from the work of Ken Wilbur who wrote a book called “Boomeritis.” It describes levels of value development, in an individual or culture, as a hierarchy. He uses color names to identify the different levels, their perspective, and the hidden downside. Green is the one we are dealing with here.

    This is important because academia, some social media companies, at least one search engine company – the tools we use to see and navigate our digital lives and form consensus – are coming from the “green” perspective. This is not “green” as in eco; it is just a label. The hidden aspect of Green is narcissism and the creation of a virtuous self-image for personal and social consumption. This is the hypocrisy that is so easy to see and target by others who do not share this perspective but hold another – another which may have its own downsides.

    Wilbur suggests that “green” has stagnated culturally and in many ways it is becoming poisonous. It is a level to attain and grow through, not a level to occupy and sustain. If people who believe in the right to self-defense do not understand the nature of the problem being faced, it is much less likely there will be success dealing with it. A quick search pulled up these links. They are not as adequate as I would like but getting the map to the territory is super important so I would like to share this and hope they will consider these ideas as tools to work this problem with:

    https://www.amazon.com/Boomeritis-Novel-That-Will-Free/dp/1590300084/
    https://www.dailyevolver.com/2017/02/trump-the-anti-green-backlash-begins/
    https://www.dailyevolver.com/2018/03/what-jordan-peterson-and-his-fans-and-foes-can-learn-from-integral-theory-part2/

    BTW, I don’t see how bump-fire stocks deserve any expenditure of political capital. The bumpfire user appears mostly as a low-information gun user, interested in sensation over earned skill, and the image is terrible for the firearms community. I admire highly skilled users, I don’t admire anything about the bumpfire product or market. Anyone who is serious about shooting guns doesn’t just spray ammo around. Losing a war over bumpfire stocks – the wrong battle to start with – seems stupid.

    We have to grow up and be relevant to the modern world shared by fellow citizens, be seen as valuable and trustworthy allies in safety, and as healthy human beings and worthy examples. If we don’t get smart, Green is going to erase everything they don’t agree with – mostly because it is not morally adequate from their perspective.

  25. This current all out push for gun control is working, for both sides. The RKBA crowd is digging in, buying more guns, joining NRA, pounding their keyboards harder than ever. The gun grabbers are recruiting huge numbers of more adherents, through their 99% control of media, quisling corporate support, and celebrity turnout.

    Both sides are more hateful and distrustful of the other than ever in history, going for eachothers throats.

    Obama succeeded beyond even his drug addled dreams.

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